


The Search For Excalibur

by McMidget



Category: Arthurian Mythology & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Canon, Arthur and Merlin was foster siblings, Arthur is a farmboy, Canon-Typical Violence, Druids, Gen, Horrible fight descriptions sorry, Parts slightly based off of Merlin BBC, Possible Character Death, Uther was never king
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McMidget/pseuds/McMidget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different take on the King Arthur legend. Long ago in Britain, when the king died, the King’s sword, Excalibur was taken away from his castle and hidden in a stone somewhere in England. It is said that whoever finds the sword and pulls it out of the stone shall become the next King of England. Clues to where the sword is hidden are hidden all over England and western Europe. A young British youth named Arthur Pendragon takes up this challenge in hopes to regain his family’s honor. Accompanied by his cousin Kay and his childhood friend Merlin, he begins the search for Excalibur, meeting both new friends and enemies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

_"Well, there has appeared a sort of sword in a stone, what, in a sort of church,"  
_ \- King Pellinore, The Once and Future King; The Sword in the Stone, Chapter XXII

**Prelude**

Agravaine's sword clashed against Arthur's in a fierce battle of steal. Arthur blocked the incoming slash to his ribs and risked a glance around the cave. Behind him Merlin was in battle against the blond sorceress. Nearby Lancelot, Gawain and Percival were fighting against Agravaine's men with little chance of either party giving up while both Kay and Tristain had both disappeared at some earlier point of time. A flash of pain brought Arthur back to the matter at hand as his right leg began to burn. While he had been risking that glance, the red-haired prince had managed to get a lucky strike at him. Arthur fell to his knees, discarding his sword, grasping his injured limb.

Agravaine smirked wickedly at the farm boy who was attempting to stem the flow of blood.

"Excalibur will be mine," he vowed as he moved towards the sword in question, his own sword hanging loosely in his hands. A slight moan of pain caught his attention and turned towards Arthur.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Arthur managed to make it to his feet, sword in both hands and as the prince stared in shock, stood in front of the sword, blocking Agavaine's passage.

"Move out of my way, farm boy," he growled at the blond. However, Arthur stood his ground, his stance slightly shaking, the bandage on his leg, quickly turning red. Sheathing his sword, Agravaine reached out and with a feet of inhuman strength, pushed Arthur off the ground. The blond landed hard against the large stone in which Excalibur was stuck in with a moan of pain as his back hit the stone hard. Agravaine laughed moving towards him. 

"Look at how weak you are. You actually thought  _you_ could become the King of England?" He asked mockingly as he kicked away Arthur's sword from the injured blond. Unsheathing his sword, he placed it against Arthur's tanned throat. "Any last words, Pendragon?" _  
_

Arthur stared defiantly into the prince's eyes but kept his silence.

"Very well," Agravaine sighed almost disapointed and brought his sword up to plunge into Arthur's chest.

**TBC ...**


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

_... 13 months before ..._

"The King is dead! The King is dead!"

Cries came from all corners of England, all proclaiming one thing and one thing only.

At the age of 67 years old, the King of England, His Royal Highness King Aurelius Ambrosius* was found dead in his bed at sunrise on the 1st of March. The royal physicians said that there was no sign of foul play and that the King had died of old age.

Many of his councilors had many questions, all which led to one simple question; who would take the throne? The King had been unmarried with no heirs and no close relatives save his distant cousins from France, Spain and Prussia. Would civil war break out as nobles fought for the throne? Would the distant relatives cause war against England in their struggle to gain the English crown?

However, little did they know that while the royal advisors counseled and worried, the future king was right under their noses in the English countryside.

XXX

...  _A Few Weeks Later ..._

The sound of steel clashing against steel filled the town's center square as the two opponents circled each other. All around them cheers and claps came from the audience. The older of the two fighters grinned at the younger.

"Ready to admit defeat, boy?" He asked. His opponent just smirked.

"Whenever you are, old man," came the reply along with a cheeky grin from the blond. The elder just signed and lunged towards the youth who quickly dodged the attack and sliced at the red-head's arm. He blocked the strike and returned with one of own, nicking the blond's left arm, causing a grimace at the sharp pain. However, he did not give up and blocked the next strike to his ribs and returned with a sharp blow of his own to the elder's calf before ducking a jab to the neck.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A loud cry ran from the cheering crowd. The two opponents stopped in their tracks and the crowd grew silent as a short, portly man pushed his way through them. As he reached the front and saw the two fighters, he sighed, holding the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Of course it's you two  _again_..." he muttered and turned his attention to the crowd. "Nothing to see here folks; the fights over. Get a move on," as he waved the crowd off, only a handful stayed, unwilling to miss out on what was going to happen.

Nodding as he saw that the crowd was mostly gone, the portly man turned his attention back to the fights.

"Arthur, Dragnet," he sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to duel in the streets?"

The two in question glanced at each other before sheathing their swords. 

"Obviously not enough," Arthur muttered, causing the man to turn to him.

"Did you say something, Pendragon?" he asked, glaring at the blond. Arthur quickly shook his head.

"Of course not, Mayor, sir," he answered, gaining a snort from a member of the crowd. "I would  _never_ say _anything_ that would insult our gracious Mayor," he glared as another snort came from the remaining viewers. He gained a disbelieving look from the Mayor, before he nodded.

"Just don't let me catch you two at it again. Or else," he finished with a glare and stalked off from the group.

Dragnet turned to the teenager. 

"That could have gone worse," he admitted. "You've gotten better with your swordsmanship," he added, offhandedly. Arthur nodded.

"Thanks. I don't see why the Mayor was so upset. It wasn't as though we were trying to kill each other."

Dragnet laughed. "That's true," he was about to say something else but was stopped by a yell of "DRAGNET!" Which came from down the smithy down the street. The red-head flashed a grin at Arthur. "Would love to say and chat but Master Stephens calls my name," and with that, the blacksmith's apprentice took off.

"He is right, you know."

Arthur jumped as a voice came from behind. Turning around, he signed as he recognized the speaker.

"Will you stop sneaking up on me?" He asked, glaring at his foster brother. With a laugh, the brunette shook his head.

"Why would I if it causes you so much grief?" He asked, earning a glare from Arthur.

"Whatever, Merlin," he muttered, annoyed. This was not going as planned. Uther had, after much pleading and begging, allowed Arthur to go off on his own to the village without his uncle or cousin to keep him out of trouble. Arthur had planned this to be the day he finally defeated Dragnet at swordfighting. Instead he had Merlin along with him and the Mayor had stopped Arthur from his victory. What was next? Arthur getting run over by a runaway cart? Been there, done that. Picking at the slice in his sleeve and wondering how he was going to explain this to his family, Arthur walked off with Merlin. He was so deep in thought that he crashed into another man, causing the both of them to fall to the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" The man snapped, standing up.

"Sorry ..." came the mutter.

"Who are you?" Merlin asked, helping his foster brother up. "I don't think we've seen you around here before." What Merlin said was true; the man was dressed as though a lesser noble was - fine but worn clothing - nothing like what the townspeople wore.

"That's because you haven't," the man snapped. "I'm only here to pass along the message," he began to brush himself off.

"What news?" Merlin asked, sensing that Arthur wasn't in a talking mood.

"About the sword in the stone, of course," at the blank looks he received, he sighed. "And this is why I'm here."

"A sword ... in a  _stone_?" And Merlin stood corrected as Arthur began to speak again. How does one get a sword stuck in a stone? And in one piece at that?

 "Well, you've heard that the King is dead, right?" At their nods, the man continued. "Well .. since the King had no relatives that he thought would take the throne, he asked a Druid for help in choosing the next King. The Druid and some of his sorcerers did some sort of Druid magic-thingy and managed to stick the King's sword - which is called Excalibur by the way - into a stone in England - don't know where, sorry - with a spell on it that only the true King of England could take it out from the stone. But that's not all - since we've got no idea who the next king is, there's this quest going on where anybody - and I mean anybody - gets the chance to take the sword out of the stone - if you can find it, that is. But there's a whole bunch of dangerous tasks that you've got to complete. That's really it."

The most amazing part was how the man managed to say it all in one breath.

"Really?" Asked Arthur.

"Of course. Anybody - not just nobles can join. But you've got to sign up in Camelot by September 1st or else you can't join," and with a wave, the man was gone.

Arthur glanced at Merlin with a gleam in his eyes. Merlin knew that look and knew what it meant.

"No," he said before Arthur could even open his mouth.

"But -"

"No."

"Merlin!" 

"I know what you're thinking and no. You've never make it past the first task."

"Glad to know how much faith you have in me," Arthur replied, his words oozing with sarcasm.

"You'd be up against knights, lords and dukes. Men trained for fighting and quests. You'd be lamb for the slaughter."

"I could so make it past the first task. Besides, how do you know? The man said  _anyone_ could enter."

"Only people stupid enough to risk death for a chance at the crown that might not even be their's would enter," Merlin said, giving Arthur a hard stare.

"Come on, Merlin. Just imagine it. King Arthur. It had a nice ring to it, don't ya think?" He asked, grinning. His grin quickly turned into a grimace as the shorter teen punched him in the shoulder. He rubbed the sore spot as he turned to his foster brother. "What was that for?"

"No reason," came the response. Arthur gave his foster brother a look which the brunette ignored.

"Fine, I'll  _not_ try for fame and fortune and the throne if that's what you want," Arthur sighed. Merlin raised an eyebrow, looking at Arthur suspiciously.

"You're just saying that, but you're really going to do it, aren't you?" He asked.

"Now, Merlin, what gives you that idea?" 

"You've done it before," Merlin answered as the two left the village.

"Like when?" Arthur asked, kicking a stone in the path ahead of him. Why would Merlin have such little faith in him? 

"When you said that you would feed the sheep and didn't and made Kay and I do it? When you said you wouldn't sneak out of the house on midsummer's eve and Ector caught you? And today when you promised your father that you wouldn't start a swordfight and look at what happened," Merlin pointed out. Arthur glared at him.

"I wasn't the only one swordfighting! Dragnet was there too," Arthur defended himself.

"And Master Stephens is probably chewing him out right about now."

"What are you? My father?" Arthur moaned. "I'm older than you, remember that."

"But I'm more mature."

"So what? I'm still older than you and therefore I'm in charge whenever father and uncle are gone."

"Actually, Kay's in charge when they're both gone, which is rarely."

"Fine. I'm in charge when all three are gone."

"Which has never happened."

"Must you enjoy ruining my fun and life?" Arthur asked, glaring at the brunette. Merlin gave him a cheeky grin.

"It is my duty as your younger brother."

"Younger _foster_ brother. Remember that," Arthur corrected. He began to slow his walk as they came in view of the house.

However as they came closer, he saw his cousin, Kay, running towards them. 

"Kay?" Arthur asked. Instead of the grin he expected on Kay's face, his cousin wore a worried look. Not to mention the paleness of his skin. "What's got you so worked up?"

Kay stopped in front of them. It was then that Arthur and Merlin saw the unshed tears in his eyes. 

"Arthur ..." Kay began in a choked voice. "I-I-It's your f-f-f-father."

"What about father?!" Arthur asked, panicking, grabbing the lapels of Kay's shirt. "What's the matter with him?!"

"H-h-h-he's ... d-d-dying," Kay swallowed hard. "Uncle Uther is dying. Your _father_ is dying, Arthur."

**TBC ...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *He was the king before Uther
> 
> Dun-dun-dun
> 
> So, hopefully this is good enough. But the next update is unknown as I have to find the notebook where the next few chapters are written.
> 
> Really hoped you guys enjoyed this, so read and review!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so kind of sucky and short beginning but it gets better and longer, I promise! I hope that you guys enjoyed this and please review.


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